The
Bethesda Big Train’s multi-faceted Hunter Renfroe was a hand’s
down selection as the Cal Ripken League’s top prospect in both 2011
and 2012—in his first go-around as a combination catcher capable of
hitting tape-measure home runs and strong-armed reliever who lit up
radar guns at 98-99 mph; a year ago, as an athletic center fielder
who re-wrote the league record book for his long-ball exploits.

Renfroe
moved on to pro ball this summer after being drafted in the first
round in June by the San Diego Padres, and it’s safe to say there
were no players of his stature in the league this season.

If
anything, pitching highlighted the 12-team circuit, and scouts said
there was more quality arms spread amongst teams than in the past,
though Renfroe’s former team, the Big Train, boasted the two best
prospects overall in lefthander Michael Boyle (Radford) and
righthander Bubba Derby (San Diego State), both rising college
sophomores.

Some
things never change, though, as the Big Train and Baltimore Redbirds
met in the league championship game for the fifth straight year, with
the Redbirds staging a late rally to win for the second time in a
row. The Big Train still managed to finish first in regular season
play, largely on the strength of dominant pitching by the twosome of
Boyle and Derby.
Youse’s
Maryland Orioles, one of the league’s flagship franchises also
maintained the status quo by winning the All-American Amateur
Baseball Association World Series in Johnstown, Pa., following the
season for the 29th time in the club’s celebrated
history with first baseman Ryan Ripken, Cal’s son and the
third-ranked prospect on the accompanying list, earning tournament
MVP honors.

TOP
25 PROSPECTS1.
MICHAEL BOYLE, lhp, Bethesda Big Train (Radford/SO in 2014)The
6-foot-2, 180-pound Boyle didn’t begin the 2013 Cal Ripken League
season with a lot of notoriety after going undrafted out of a
Virginia high school in 2012 and assembling a solid freshman season
at Radford, where he went 5-3, 3.77 in 15 appearances (all starts).
His game clearly went to another level on the summer with a fastball
that sat at 90-93 mph, that he threw in concert with a power
changeup, enabling him to fashion a tidy 5-1, 0.77 record in six
starts; in 35 innings, he gave up 11 walks and 19 hits while striking
out 31. He also worked in a slider with more regularity as a third
pitch. But it was his ability to locate all his pitches with greater
precision, while getting sinking action on his fastball against wood
bats that enabled him to dominate. With a slight herky-jerky motion
coming from a three-quarters angle, he also created deception in his
delivery and hitters often had difficulty picking up the ball out of
his hand.

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